Gun clubs forced to relocate

Gun clubs forced to relocate

OTHER INFAMOUS BANS


Leaf blowers: Banning the noisy machines has been urged over the years, but the last attempt in 2007 wasn't approved.

Smoking: Bans began in 1979 when the city said no smoking in stores and elevators. The curbs expanded to include restaurants and bars.

No jets: Under a 50-year agreement signed in 1983, jet-powered flights are banned from using the island airport except for medical evacuations, emergencies and flights during the CNE air show.

Barenaked Ladies: The Toronto band was banned from playing Nathan Phillips Square at a New Year's Eve concert in 1991 because their name objectifies women.

Nuke free: Toronto declared itself a nuclear-free zone in the 1980s.


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THE MINUTES


Approved
• A 20-year management agreement with the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma. Kiwanis to operate the castle.
• A waterfront museum to celebrate Toronto and its history will be built at the foot of Bathurst St.

Defeated
• An attempt to terminate a lease and sell the building that houses the Marcus Garvey Centre for Leadership and Education that serves youth in the Jane and Finch community.
Plan to cancel leases, permits of facilities called `absurd' by critics

Jun 24, 2008 04:30 AM
donovan Vincent
city hall bureau

It was attacked as a waste of time and "hullabaloo'' but in the end Mayor David Miller's "city-based'' measures to address gun violence in Toronto won council approval yesterday.

The most controversial aspect of the 16-point plan is the cancellation of a lease and permit for two recreational gun clubs that operate separately in city-run facilities – one in a community centre in Scarborough, the other in Union Station.

The city will be helping the two clubs re-establish themselves on private property in Toronto. They'll be allowed to remain in operation, similar to a handful of other gun clubs that exist in the city on private property. The city doesn't have the legal power to close those ranges on private land.

The city will also prepare a zoning by-law restricting any new firing ranges or gun clubs – except for those run by police and National Defence – from setting up shop in Toronto. The same for operations that make, assemble, warehouse and distribute guns.

After daylong debate – that was interrupted for nearly half an hour when Ontario Coalition Against Poverty activists entered council chambers to protest temporary shelter closings – the plan passed by a vote of 31-9. But first, Miller took some harsh criticism, mostly from right-wingers on council.

They argued that Miller is pushing a policy that won't reduce the number of guns ending up in the hands of criminals in Toronto.

"This is politics, window dressing, and it won't get anything done," said councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong.

They also criticized the lease and permit terminations as hollow gestures, in part because the two recreational clubs on city property have no history of problems, and because they'll simply be moving to other locations in Toronto.

"It's absolutely absurd what you're saying here. That these people can go to another place in the city of Toronto with the same guns, and you're doing something for gun control in this city. You know damn well you're not," councillor Doug Holyday shouted angrily at Miller.

Miller invited Holyday to put forward his own plan to address gun violence in the city.

In his opening remarks on the plan, Miller, who is trying to get Ottawa to ban handguns, said it's incumbent on the city to do everything possible to help protect the people of Toronto and help save lives.

He told council that 44,000 handguns once in the possession of legal owners are on Canada's streets.

He said that from a "moral perspective'' council has to end the use of guns in city facilities.